This invention relates to reversing gears and more particularly to the use of planetary gears for reversing the direction of rotation of fixed pitched propellers of a ship.
Ship propulsion systems require some method of reversing the thrust produced by the propellers in order to slow down, stop, and reverse the movement of the ship. Steam turbines utilized as drives for ships often incorporate special blading which can be utilized to reverse the direction of rotation of the turbine. However, most diesel engines, gas turbines, as well as many steam turbines are unidirectional, that is, their direction of rotation is fixed so they can only rotate in one direction. Thus, in order to slow down, stop and reverse the movement of a ship, reversing gears, variable pitch propellers, or separate drives are utilized. Ship propulsion systems are very large, thousands of horsepower, thus the reversing apparatus must be able to transmit large quantities of energy efficiently, reliably, and must be easy to maintain.